Prospects for the Empirical Tradition in Educational Research [chapter]

Trevor Gale, Bob Lingard
2010 Educational Research by Association  
The Australian Association for Research in Education, in the time since its founding conference in 1970, has become the principal organisation of educational researchers in Australia. The last few years, in particular, have seen its membership and attendances at its annual conference grow substantially. Yet it has remained an organisation somewhat dominated by those educational researchers whose roots are in the empirical research tradition. The majority of papers read at its conferences
more » ... this tradition. Five of its first six presidents would identify with this tradition. This 1976 conference, through its thematic emphasis on the implications of research methods for practice, has provided an explicit invitation for all to display their methodological wares and to point to their substantive fruits. Although such invitations to reflection often produce protracted sessions of 'navel contemplation' in which a succession of speakers bewails the poverty of present research results, the inadequacy of present research methodology or the complexity of educational phenomena, the hope that many had for this conference was that it would provide the grounds for a constructive, and broadly based, review of potential contributions and developments. Whether the conference achieves this will obviously be for the participants to judge, but the detailed program at least gave promise of it. In this address, I make no pretence of judging the contributions of traditions other than the one I know myself. What I have chosen to offer is an analysis of the prospects for the empirical tradition in educational research. I do this, not to reaffirm the dominance of this tradition within our organisation, but to facilitate a review of it by all members, whatever their own disciplinary or methodological affiliation might be. In fact, my objective is even more limited than this might suggest. The particular empirical research tradition on which I want to focus is that of educational psychology. My intention is to review some of the major shifts in emphasis in that tradition, and to offer an analysis of its future prospects. THE ORIGINAL DREAMS The original dreams of educational psychologists were grand enough! I can distinctly recall how, while studying chemistry and psychology as an undergraduate, I was T. Gale and B. Lingard (eds.), Educational Research by Association,[35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45]
doi:10.1163/9789460910197_004 fatcat:5gwdkfiujnhvfctarlgg7w5hgm